Florida Senate - 2014                       CS for CS for SB 612
       
       
        
       By the Committees on Community Affairs; and Governmental
       Oversight and Accountability; and Senator Hays
       
       
       
       
       578-02843-14                                           2014612c2
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to government contracting; amending s.
    3         215.985, F.S.; revising information to be posted on
    4         the Chief Financial Officer’s contract tracking system
    5         to conform to changes made by the act; amending s.
    6         287.084, F.S.; preempting and superseding a local
    7         ordinance or regulation that gives preference for an
    8         award to a certified contractor under certain
    9         circumstances; requiring a university, college,
   10         county, municipality, school district, or other
   11         political subdivision to make specified disclosures in
   12         competitive solicitation documents; providing that a
   13         university, college, county, municipality, school
   14         district, or other political subdivision is not
   15         prohibited from awarding a contract to a vendor under
   16         certain circumstances; amending s. 287.1335, F.S.;
   17         defining terms; requiring agencies to provide the
   18         Department of Management Services with copies of
   19         vendor complaints and names of suspended and
   20         terminated vendors; authorizing local governmental
   21         entities to provide such information to the
   22         department; requiring the department to maintain
   23         certain information regarding vendors on its website;
   24         requiring an agency to submit specified information to
   25         the department on a quarterly basis; authorizing a
   26         local governmental entity to submit such information
   27         on the same basis; requiring a vendor responding to an
   28         agency’s competitive solicitation to disclose certain
   29         information; specifying certain requirements for
   30         considering a response to a competitive solicitation
   31         or entering a contract; providing an effective date.
   32          
   33  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   34  
   35         Section 1. Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (14) of
   36  section 215.985, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   37         215.985 Transparency in government spending.—
   38         (14) The Chief Financial Officer shall establish and
   39  maintain a secure contract tracking system available for viewing
   40  and downloading by the public through a secure website. The
   41  Chief Financial Officer shall use appropriate Internet security
   42  measures to ensure that no person has the ability to alter or
   43  modify records available on the website.
   44         (a) Within 30 calendar days after executing a contract,
   45  each state entity shall post the following information relating
   46  to the contract on the contract tracking system:
   47         1. The names of the contracting entities.
   48         2. The procurement method.
   49         3. The contract beginning and ending dates.
   50         4. The nature or type of the commodities or services
   51  purchased.
   52         5. Applicable contract unit prices and deliverables.
   53         6. Total compensation to be paid or received under the
   54  contract.
   55         7. All payments made to the contractor to date.
   56         8. Applicable contract performance measures.
   57         9. If a competitive solicitation was not used to procure
   58  the goods or services, the justification of such action,
   59  including citation to a statutory exemption or exception from
   60  competitive solicitation, if any.
   61         10. Electronic copies of the contract and procurement
   62  documents that have been redacted to exclude confidential or
   63  exempt information.
   64         11. Whether the contractor was listed on the vendor
   65  complaint list, suspended vendor list, or terminated vendor list
   66  under s. 287.1335 at the time the contract was initially entered
   67  into.
   68         Section 2. Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section
   69  287.084, Florida Statutes, is amended to read:
   70         287.084 Preference to Florida businesses.—
   71         (1)
   72         (c)1. If a competitive solicitation for personal property
   73  or construction services provides that 20 percent or more of the
   74  cost is to be paid from state-appropriated funds, this section
   75  preempts and supersedes any local ordinance or regulation that
   76  gives preference to a vendor who is a certified contractor as
   77  defined in s. 489.105(8) for an award predicated upon:
   78         a. The vendor maintaining an office or place of business
   79  within a particular local jurisdiction;
   80         b. The vendor hiring employees or subcontractors from
   81  within a particular local jurisdiction; or
   82         c. The vendor’s prior payment of local taxes, assessments,
   83  or duties within a particular local jurisdiction.
   84         2. In any competitive solicitation subject to this section,
   85  a university, college, county, municipality, school district, or
   86  other political subdivision of this state shall disclose in the
   87  solicitation document whether payment will come from funds
   88  appropriated by the state and, if known, the amount of such
   89  funds or the percentage of such funds as compared to the
   90  anticipated total cost of the personal property or construction
   91  services.
   92         3. Except as provided in subparagraph 1., this section does
   93  not prohibit a university, college, county, municipality, school
   94  district, or other political subdivision of this state from
   95  awarding a contract to a vendor in accordance with applicable
   96  state laws or local ordinances or regulations. As used in this
   97  section, the term “other political subdivision of this state”
   98  does not include counties or municipalities.
   99         Section 3. Section 287.1335, Florida Statutes, is created
  100  to read:
  101         287.1335 Vendors; reporting by agencies and local
  102  governmental entities.—
  103         (1) As used in this section, the term:
  104         (a) “Suspended vendor list” means a list compiled by the
  105  department of all reported vendors whose ability to bid or
  106  perform state or local government contracts has been temporarily
  107  suspended by an agency or a participating local governmental
  108  entity due to a contract default by the vendor or for other good
  109  cause.
  110         (b) “Terminated vendor list” means a list compiled by the
  111  department of all reported vendors whose contracts have been
  112  terminated by an agency or a participating local governmental
  113  entity due to a contract default by the vendor or for other good
  114  cause.
  115         (c) “Vendor” means an entity or person in a contractual
  116  relationship with an agency or a local governmental entity.
  117         (d) “Vendor complaint list” means a list compiled by the
  118  department of complaints that have been issued to vendors by an
  119  agency or participating local governmental entity.
  120         (2) An agency shall provide the department with copies of
  121  complaints issued to vendors and the names of suspended and
  122  terminated vendors for the vendor complaint list, the suspended
  123  vendor list, and the terminated vendor list, respectively. A
  124  local governmental entity may provide such information to the
  125  department.
  126         (3) The department shall maintain and update, on its
  127  website, the vendor complaint list, the suspended vendor list,
  128  and the terminated vendor list. In addition, the department
  129  shall provide public access through its website of copies of
  130  complaints issued to a vendor by an agency or participating
  131  local governmental entity.
  132         (4) An agency shall provide the department each quarter
  133  with updated information necessary to maintain the vendor
  134  complaint list, the suspended vendor list, and the terminated
  135  vendor list. A local governmental entity may provide such
  136  information to the department each quarter. An agency shall
  137  report to the department all instances of a material breach of a
  138  contract or a notice of default and subsequent termination
  139  within 30 days after such occurrence.
  140         (5)(a) An agency shall require that a vendor responding to
  141  a competitive solicitation disclose whether the vendor has,
  142  within the previous 5 years, had a contract terminated by a
  143  federal, state, or local governmental entity after defaulting on
  144  a contract; paid a fine or penalty incurred by nonperformance of
  145  a federal, state, or local government contract; or entered into
  146  an agreement with a federal, state, or local governmental entity
  147  in settlement of any issues related to default or nonperformance
  148  of a contract. An agency may consider a vendor’s failure to
  149  disclose such information in determining whether the vendor is
  150  in breach of any resulting contract.
  151         (b) A local governmental entity may require such
  152  disclosures from a vendor in response to a competitive
  153  solicitation.
  154         (6) When evaluating bids, proposals, or replies to
  155  competitive solicitations, an agency must consider information
  156  available on the vendor complaint list, suspended vendor list,
  157  and terminated vendor list in determining whether the vendor
  158  submitting a response to the competitive solicitation is a
  159  responsible and responsive vendor. If an agency enters into a
  160  contract with a vendor on the vendor complaint list, suspended
  161  vendor list, or terminated vendor list, the contract file must
  162  contain documentation specifying that the agency’s designee with
  163  authority to sign the contract was aware that the contracted
  164  vendor was named on the vendor complaint list, suspended vendor
  165  list, or terminated vendor list at the time the contract was
  166  initially entered into.
  167         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2014.